INTHEBLACK February / March 2026 - Magazine - Page 38
P O D C AS T
Inside the
ATO–big business
relationship
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“We are now seeing for the 2022–23 year that
94.1 per cent of taxes are paid on lodgement
of returns by large corporates.”
REBECCA SAINT, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE
In a recent episode of the With Interest
podcast, CPA Australia tax lead Jenny Wong
speaks with Rebecca Saint, deputy
commissioner of public groups at the
Australian Taxation Office (ATO), about
how the ATO works with large corporates
and multinationals to maintain tax integrity.
HIGH CONFIDENCE
Saint, who also plays a key role in the Tax
Avoidance Taskforce, says voluntary compliance
among large businesses has steadily improved
over the past decade.
“We are now seeing for the 2022–23 year
that 94.1 per cent of taxes are paid on
lodgement of returns by large corporates.
That then closes to 96.3 per cent after ATO
compliance activity,” she says.
The tax office has high levels of coverage
and confidence over the top 100 taxpaying
corporates, Saint continues, with 88 per cent
having either medium or high assurance ratings.
More broadly, the top 1000 taxpayers have an
assurance rate of 94 per cent.
“When you’ve got a population paying
A$29 billion, those results are really good.”
REAL-TIME ENGAGEMENT
The ATO has made a strategic pivot in the top
100 program toward real-time engagement
and pre-lodgement certainty for large
businesses, which aims to build a stronger,
38 INTHEBLACK February/March 2026
more collaborative relationship and reduce
unnecessary compliance burden. Saint explains
the upsides of this strategy for businesses,
one such example being that they know what
needs to be provided to the ATO, which helps
with planning.
“Being able to understand ATO views prior
to lodgement of the return means that there
are no surprises.”
Working closer to the time of transactions
should mean more readily accessible
information, Saint says, which hopefully
means “that [the ATO] can get what we
need much sooner, and it also causes a lot
less pain for taxpayers having to dig things
out of their archives and systems”.
MODERNISATION
Looking ahead, Saint highlights the ATO’s
opportunity to streamline data collection
and align with how corporations are using
automation and AI.
“We’ll be looking to work with members
of our large business stewardship group over
the coming year to think about and unpack
some of these very difficult questions and
hopefully be able to shape what that future
looks like.”
LISTEN
to this episode
